World Jr Chess: Shanglei, Yi lead Chinese charge

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 20:56 IST

China’s Lu Shanglei and Wei Yi emphatically exhibited their rising chess prowess with convincing victories over Russians Vladimir Fedoseev, the top seed, and Mikhail Antipov, in the 10th round of the World Junior Chess Championships at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Thursday.

The victories ensured that the Chinese maintained joint-leader status with eight points each.

In the girls’ section, top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina enhanced her sole lead with the shortest victory in this edition of the World juniors, defeating Iran’s Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran in just 10 moves. She has 8.5 points.

Padmini Rout, India’s strong contender for the title, dropped back farther with a draw against Meri Arabidze of Georgia. She has seven points.

S L Narayanan, after gaining a GM norm on Wednesday, ended on the losing side against Ankit Rajpara in an English game which lasted 44 moves.

Sarasadat appeared to lose way in the opening stages of a Queen’s Gambit against Aleksandra on the ninth move itself. A move later, landing in an inferior position, the Iranian preferred to resign rather than continue in agony and almost rushed out of the tournament hall in tears.

Three more rounds are remaining in this 13-round event, sponsored by LIC and Government of Maharashtra and Amanora. ONGC, Jain Irrigation and Everstone are the Associate sponsors.